Assault Destroyer
Not to be confused with the Confederate Destroyer. "Taking one for the team." :- Unofficial motto of the ANV Hurricane Tactical Analysis *'Amphibious assault': Assault Destroyers have similar handling characteristics both at sea and on land, though their typically-gruff, typically-proud captains scoff at this suggestion, pointing to myriad nuances such as how the vessels can only move in reverse while on land, and so forth. *'Black-Hole armour': The "secret weapon" of the Assault Destroyer is some sort of field that draws fire into it while supercharging the vessel's defensive strength even further. This device makes use of bizarre gravity manipulation technology that makes all lines in a radius around the Assault Destroyer lead to the centre. Unfortunately, energy weapons are unaffected by the field. *'For surface use only': While powerful, the Assault Destroyer's main gun is only effective against surface targets, leaving the vessel with no direct response against enemy aircraft. Soviet subs also pose a threat to Assault Destroyers. Debate continues over whether these vessels are evenly matched. *'Stay out of its way': On land, the Assault Destroyer can simply crush smaller vehicles, let alone enemy foot soldiers. Infantry are still considered a threat to these vessels, however, since its main gun is too bulky to be effective against them. WWIII Operational History As the Soviet Union further encroached on its neighbours from every direction, the Allied Nations sought a versatile solution to coastal threats that could press onto the shore to secure a beachhead. Years of design conducted in secret, headed by the finest panel of international military vehicle specialists ever assembled by the Allies, resulted in the Assault Destroyer -- an amphibious warship featuring a highly accurate armour-piercing cannon suitable for land and sea warfare, as well as layers of specially-designed armour that can be activated to draw enemy fire away from otherwise-unprotected targets. Assault Destroyers are so massive that only Allied seaports are large enough to manufacture them, even though the vessels themselves are fully as capable on land as they are at sea. In fact, on land, the relative girth of Assault Destroyers is such that they dwarf most other vehicles, including the Soviet Union's own main battle tanks. These vessels all are fitted with a swivel-mounted armour-piercing main gun, more powerful and no less accurate than that of virtually any modern tank, and their performance characteristics on land rival all but the Soviet Union's own Apocalypse tanks. Of course, unlike Apocalypse tanks, Assault Destroyers can traverse land and sea with equal ease, which recently has come into play throughout numerous combat encounters between Allied and Soviet forces near the Strait of Gibraltar as well as near the Allies' science facilities in Mykonos. In spite of the Assault Destroyer's raw power as an amphibious armoured assault vehicle, its greatest strength may be its defensive capability. First and foremost, this vessel's reinforced hull can shrug off all but the most violent of concussive blasts--the Assault Destroyer is probably the single most heavily armoured element of the Allied military, rivalling even manufacturer Gerhardt-Giraud's own Aircraft Carriers. Yet while heavy armour is nothing special to the modern battlefield, the "Black Hole Armour" most certainly is. Each Assault Destroyer has the capability to activate a special field, which causes nearby ordnance to gravitate toward the Assault Destroyer instead of its intended target. While purposely drawing enemy fire may seem like lunacy, the Assault Destroyer's extremely durable hull absorbs most enemy fire as a fine sponge soaks up a spilt beverage. Assault Destroyers' Black Hole Armour makes them probably the single most reassuring sight that other Allied forces could hope to encounter on the battlefield. Even though activating the Black Hole Armour field means having to avoid use of their main guns for fear of internal combustion, Assault Destroyers still are extremely powerful when not attacking simply because they can prevent more-vulnerable Allied forces from coming to harm. Thankfully at least, Allied forces tuned to the same encrypted frequencies as Assault Destroyers need not fear damaging their brothers-in-arms and may fire through the Black Hole Armour field as normal, since the Black Hole Armour field's ability to not affect projectiles firing out of the field is just a backup in case the frequencies are messed up. After returning from a successful counterattack against Soviet Apocalypse tanks in France, one Mirage Tank commander famously quipped, "Today I love the Assault Destroyer more than my mother, and I wouldn't be here if not for her." Post-War Operational History Several captains have brought it to Gerhardt-Giraud's attention that the "Michell"-class has a design fault, wherein communications with Decks 2 and 3 are knocked out after the Assault Destroyer had taken damage. The bridge doesn't know where to send damage control teams, and more than one ship has been sent to the bottom because of this. Gerhardt-Giraud Shipworks has recently retrofitted all ships with extra wiring, allowing damage control to better receive status reports from the troublesome decks. Statisticians have noticed an increase in Assault Destroyer survivability because of this. Experienced Assault Destroyer captains are authorised to use railguns as their main deck guns, using railgun technology "acquired" from the Syndicate. Just the Stats Category:Units Category:Units Originating from the United States